Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu urges government, opposition to resolve stalemate in Parliament
- In Reports
- 06:08 PM, Aug 03, 2021
- Myind Staff
As disruptions and loss of business hours continued for the third week in the Rajya Sabha, Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu urged the government and opposition MPs to collectively resolve the present stalemate.
The Monsoon Session of the Parliament has witnessed frequent disruptions in the first two weeks due to Opposition protests over the Pegasus spyware row and the contentious three farm laws.
Over the last 12 hours, Venkaiah Naidu held meetings with top ministers in the central government and opposition leaders to bring back normalcy in the Upper House.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has once again attacked the Opposition for stalling Parliament and asked his MPs to ensure proceedings continue with maximum attendance in the Houses.
PM Modi, who was speaking at the BJP parliamentary party meeting on Tuesday — the third meeting in the ongoing Monsoon Session of Parliament — also took offence to the kind of language used by some leaders of the opposition regarding passage of bills and called it not just an insult to Parliament but to the people of the country.
The prime minister said his government was committed to the cause of the people and that is one of the reasons he asked all his ministers and MPs to ensure maximum presence in the House and in parliamentary proceedings.
While the monsoon session of parliament began on July 19, Parliament has functioned for only 18 hours out of possible 107 hours in the first two weeks. More than ₹133 crore in taxpayer money has been lost because of disruptions, government sources said on Saturday.
On Monday evening, Venkaiah Naidu held a meeting with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi, and Leader of the House Piyush Goyal. Urging the government to discuss ways to end the logjam, the Rajya Sabha Chairman conveyed that a lot of time has been wasted due to the stands taken by the government and the opposition.
Venkaiah Naidu also met the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge after the first adjournment of the House.
On Tuesday, as PM Modi expressed his worry over the logjam, opposition parties led by Rahul Gandhi met over breakfast and later cycled to Parliament to register their protest against the rising fuel prices. The parties have disrupted proceedings in Parliament, demanding discussion on the Pegasus snooping row and farmers’ protest among other issues.
Image source: DNA India
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